Confucius Institute

CIVU’s 3rd Annual Great Lakes Music Festival

The Confucius Institute at
Valparaiso University’s third annual Great Lakes Music Festival, scheduled
between October 13 and 23, came to a successful completion. The major players
of the festival, the 16-member Chinese Ensemble from the Shanghai Conservatory
of Music, a counterpart to The Julliard School, offered some 10 concerts in
Valparaiso University and neighbouring schools, theatre, and chapel. Apart from
performing in Concord High School (Oct.
13), Thea Bowman Leadership Academy (Oct. 14), Wheeler High School (Oct. 18),
Bishop Noll Institute and Culver Academies (both on Oct. 19) in Indiana, they
joined forces with the 58-member VU Symphony Orchestra and went to play in
Milwaukee Pabst Theatre, Wisconsin (Oct. 20), in one High School in Wisconsin
(Oct. 21), and in the Rockford Memorial Chapel in Chicago, Illinois (Oct. 22). The
performance in Chicago, an event of collaboration between the CIVU and the
Confucius Institute at the University of Chicago, was highlighted by Yu Yuanqing,
a celebrated violinist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who was originally
from Shanghai.

In addition to these
performances, they put on two major concerts in VU, one on October 17 and the
other on October 23. October 17 saw the Duesenburg Recital Hall, VU’s Center
for the Arts, fully packed with audience, who were amazed by pieces like Dancing Music of the Yi Ethnic People, a
Zheng solo by Liu Le, Trip to Suzhou,
a Bamboo Flute and Sheng concerto by Mao Yulong and Zhang Meng, Chinese Flower Drum Music, a Yangqin
solo by Tao Yi, and Besieged on All Sides,
a Pipa solo by Zhang Tie. The performance of Jasmine Flower, Dragon Dance
Music, and Ode to Joy, by the
Chinese Ensemble, the VU Symphony Orchestra, and Thea Bowman Leadership Academy’s
Chinese music band, all dressed up in traditional Chinese attire, demonstrated
to the audience how music can “help enhance cultural exchanges between China
and the US”[1], an idea strongly
believed in by Prof. Meng Jianyun, Director of the CIVU, who was the mastermind
and executor of not only the annual Great Lakes Confucius Institute Music
Festival but also other music exchange programs, in which he brings US
musicians to perform in China, and vice versa.

The October 23 gala concert was
staged in Harre Union Ballroom, where more than 200 students from Rockford High
School, Concord High School and Portage High School performed with the Chinese
Ensemble, and the VU Symphony Orchestra. Some of the high school students were
playing the Erhu instead of their own musical instrument. This combined
performance was preceded by Chinese musical instrument tryouts and tutorials in
the afternoon, when the visiting Chinese musicians demonstrated and tutored
them on the techniques of playing
Chinese musical instruments, such as the Erhu, Yangqin, Sheng, Pipa, Bamboo
Flute, Suona Horn, and the Liuqin.

The philosophy behind such
interactions alongside collaboration is Prof. Meng’s belief that music “is one
of the most valuable tools in growing mutual understanding and respect between
peoples from the two countries”[2]. His point of view
was echoed by Dr. Dennis Friesen-Carper, music professor of VU, who was quoted
as saying: “This kind of event is non-political and is human situation, with
people interacting with each other in a positive way in a common goal. And it
is incredibly important.”[3]
Michaeline Spencer, a Portage HS junior violinist, “who tried out the Erhu—a
two stringed lap fiddle, was thrilled to meet and learn from the accomplished Chinese
musicians: ‘They play with passion and investment. From the heart, like my mom
always reminds me!’”[4]

Post
Tribune ofNorthwest Indiana, which carried an
article on Thea Bowman Leadership Academy students’ performance, began its report
by saying[5]: “It was a tale of
two cultures for several Thea Bowman Leadership Academy students who have
studied Chinese language and music the past year.”

Since the gala concert on October
23 coincided with the first US Mid-West CI Directors’ Forum, another signature
event of the CIVU this year, the delegates to this forum were invited to
appreciate the performance, which served as a living example of how the CIVU
conducted its cultural exchange programs. Kung Hsiang-te, 75th
descendant of Confucius, gave out the Zhiyin
Award to Dr. Dennis Friesen-Carper and Dr. Jeffery Doebler for their
contributions to the music exchange programs of the CIVU.